Ken Louie “Kzen” Pile will get his baptism of fire as he takes John Paul “H2wo” Salonga’s jungler spot when NXPE locks horn with the best teams from Southeast Asia in the Mobile Legends Professional League Invitational, starting on Tuesday, November 2
Kzen, along with fellow rookie Sanford “Sanford” Vinuya will have huge shoes to fill for Nexplay Evos as star XP Laner Renejay “RENEJAY” Barcase decided to sit out in MPLI while H2wo, although still part of the official roster, is expected to ride the bench and take a breather during the tournament.
“Renejay and H2 want to rest. Pero si H2 naka-lineup but will be benched for the meantime,” NXPE head coach John Michael “Zico” Dizon told Manila Bulletin.
NXPE loaned Kzen from RBC Mobile Legends team while Sanford got promoted to the main five after serving as one of the team reserves during the MPL Season 8.
Kzen, however, was not a stranger to NXP as he was also part of the Aether Main Clan and previously played for NXPE’s sister team Nexplay Salty in several local tournaments. The 15-year-old Sanford, on the other hand, showed promise in his MPL debut in the last day of the regular season and is looking to further prove his worth in the MPLI.
Nexplay coach and analyst Niel “Midnight” De Guzman doesn’t see any problem in having Kzen take H2wo's jungler role as he sees a lot of upside in the young player's gameplay.
"Si Kzen yung magiging jungler namin, masaya ako kay Kzen kasi he’s a very skilled player and gusto rin siyang kakampi ng mga players ng NXP Evos and gusto ko rin siya maging player sa totoo lang,” said Midnight in his MPLI roster announcement in one of his vlogs.
The two will join the rest of the NXP Evos squad that finished fourth in the MPL PH Season 8. Jeniel “Yellyhaze” Bata-anon and Tristan “Yawi” Cabrera are expected to lead the squad together with rising rookie Johnwin “Hesa” Vergara as they take on the best MPL teams in the Southeast Asian region.
Aside from NXPE, five other teams from MPL PH will be seeing action in the 20-team, seven-day tournament led by two-time champions Blacklist International. They are joined by Onic Philippines, Omega Esports, ECHO, and RSG Philippines.